That Indian Gang Rape Case - Death Penalties Handed Down

The 4 of them have been sentenced to death. They bit that I don't like is that when they committed their offences their crime was not punishable by death. Surely their punishment should only be the maximum allowed at the time they committed the offence. Seems a bit kangaroo courtish to me. Not saying that they don't deserve to be killed, but the do deserve a fair trial an fair punishment.

No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

Cos we all know rape is a rational calculated process with risk assessment

I think in many cases it is. The rational calculation is certainly true of the power exertion of the rapist over the victim and risk assessments are unconscious things that we do all the time. If you believ you can do something this abhorrent and get away with it, and it gives you a kick to do it then you'll do it.

Cos we all know rape is a rational calculated process with risk assessment

You've not read the specific details of this case then Molls? This crime was indeed planned and calculated from the off. They set out to find someone to do this too, among other fun and games they got up to.

They're getting what society seems to demand as a punishment for that. Boo hoo for them eh? The injustice of it all!!!

You've not read the specific details of this case then Molls? This crime was indeed planned and calculated from the off. They set out to find someone to do this too, among other fun and games they got up to.

I've read it, its horrific. But they appear to have been relatively easy to catch (having used a victims mobile to trace them) and must surely have know the punishment, yet it didn't stop them carrying out the crime?

Have you read the details of this case? They are truly horrific! They're animals!

Yes and they are. Are they any worse than the gang of men who weeks after this attacked and raped a girl on a building site setting fire to her afterwards so see wouldn't identify them. The girl in that case was 11, it received little media coverage, no arrests were made and the father reports he now cannot get police to continue the investigation. There has been no reduction in these crimes since then, and i doubt these sentences will change anything.

It looks more like pandering to the international community rather than addressing the deeper societal issues driving these cases. Overall it paints a more depressing picture of the society to me.

Pretty murky as far as the rule of law is concerned and am not a natural advocate of the death penalty (cant be revoked on appeal and all that) but in this case my reasoning for the death penalty would be as follows:

Deterrent - no, clearly people commit these crimes all the time all over the world

Revenge/public molification - no, an abhorrent concept

means of disposing of individuals that pose an unacceptable risk to the rest of society - well it's cheaper than prison and you don't have to put up them whining about the injustice of their whole life tariffs

no ceremony, no publicity, just a double tap to the back head and a quiet burial in an unmarked grave.